Tuesday, August 01, 2017

FAKE ADAM SMITHS

“I’ve always felt the shapers of the American experiment from the late 1700s were not only exceptional, but brilliant thinkers. Their ideas and ideals still guide our success in the 21st century. Take Adam Smith for example and his theory of the “invisible hand.”

Investopedia says: Smith’s theory of the invisible hand constitutes the basis of his belief that large-scale government intervention and regulation of the economy is neither necessary nor beneficial. Smith put forth the notion of the invisible hand in arguing that free individuals operating in a free economy, making decisions, primarily focused on their own self-interest, logically take actions that result in benefiting society as a whole even though such beneficial results were not the specific focus or intent of those actions."

COMMENT

Adam Smith did not have a "theory" of "the invisible hand". It was a metaphor. If Jhadmine is curious of the difference between a "metaphor" and "theory" he could read Adam Smith's 'Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres', which he delivered from 1748 to 1763.

'Investopedia' is unreliable on Adam Smith. Its definition of Adam Smith's use of the 'invisible hand' is wildly incorrect and misleading.